DISINFECT YOUR SPIRITUAL ATMOSPHERE WITH PRAYER

 Disinfect your spiritual atmosphere with prayer

They swarmed around me like bees, but they died out as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off Ps 118:12NIV

As a small boy, I used to hear accounts of people who died because fish bone caught them in the throat while eating. I asked my wife, Joy, why we do not hear such stories anymore these days. Her response was straightforward, those people died by spiritual enchantment from witches and wizards. The natural person will think that it was the bone but it was through satanic attacks.

Then I wondered why do they not happen anymore these? The Lord answered me, “Prayers of believers floating in the atmosphere. When believers pray they disinfect the atmosphere, and agents of darkness and demons are restricted in their movements”. A woman in my neighborhood tried her best to force me out of the present location of Door of Hope Christian Centre. When her husband confronted her in my presence on why she was antagonizing me, she replied, “Every time prayer, prayer. They won’t allow someone to rest”. She tried many other things but by the mercies of God, she failed. She was later exposed to be a wicked person and her husband sent her away,

Witches, wizards and all the agents of satan hate prayers because prayed-over-atmospheres obstruct and inhibit their activities. Merely repeating, “The Blood Jesus Christ” several times is a great hindrance to their operations. Beware of any person who is always complaining about praying people. He maybe an agent of the devil.

While in Bamenda in Cameroon in 2016, in the midnight, I noticed some weird noise in the neighborhood I stayed. They sounded like a crowd of birds and made noise like swarming bees but I knew these were not birds or bees but witches and wizards conglomerating. Nobody in that neighborhood knew my true identity; even my landlord believed me when I told him that I was just another Igbo businessman. But that night I could not keep my identity secret anymore. I went into warfare prayers confronting those spiritual elements. I sent the Holy Ghost fire to scatter them. I bound the demons working with them and clipped their wings so they cannot fly away. My first intention was to punish them for venturing into that territory before I released them. By daybreak, my neighbors were coming around to take a closer look at my face. I learned from them that they had been under the oppression of those spiritual wicked forces. Till the day I left that place, those wicked spiritual invaders never returned again.

In the name of the Lord I cut them off.

2006 while yet new in Port Harcourt city, my family moved into a new house and we were very happy that our landlady was a believer who hosted House Fellowship for a popular deliverance ministry in her house. In our first night there we noticed movements in the atmosphere at about 1am in the night. Joy and I stood up in prayer to take charge of the spiritual traffic of that neighborhood. We declared a “No-Fly-Zone” over the area and we sent the Holy Ghost fire to torture all those spiritual elements. The next day my “prayer warrior landlady” went to enquire from the woman who brought me the manner of pastor that I was. The godly woman replied, “I told you that he is a pastor”.  I had to learn that my landlady was a witch operating under cover in that deliverance ministry. She returned the money I paid her and gave me time to leave. 

Don’t be fooled by outward appearances.

Sometime in 1998, I was living in a suburban neighborhood and often noticed that witches and wizards were having free movement in that area. The Lord showed me that a woman and her daughter were witches and they moved in and out every night. My neighbors were complaining about all manner of witchcraft attacks raging from lacerations on their skins and other attacks. I marched around my neighborhood announcing loudly that I was going to lock the spiritual atmosphere and that I would not be responsible for any harm that befalls anyone who ventured out for witchcraft meetings, because the person will not be able to return. I noticed this woman making face at me, implying that I was talking nonsense. People around avoided her and her daughter because if you challenged them by day, they will punish you at night. About one week after, it was reported that her daughter had died in her sleep. They did not want me to know and they buried her quietly. Unfortunately, the mother did not show any sign of remorse and soon died too.

As a person of prayer, it is your responsibility to provide spiritual cover to your family and neighbors.

A church that is in a neighboring town to Owerri City, was interrupted in the middle of a hot prayer session by a loud sound on their roof. When they rushed out, they saw a half-naked man falling from the roof. He confessed that he was a wizard on a journey and he tried to fly over the church building against the advice of the others that were flying with him. When our bible believing churches begin to pray, we can take charge of the atmosphere.

Prayer is a spiritual disinfectant. Learn to disinfect your home and neighborhood with warfare prayers once in a while. If you notice that the emotional atmosphere in your home is inexplicably tense, for the benefit of doubt, bind demons that maybe floating in the atmosphere. If your child screams from her sleep, for the benefit of doubt, bind all witches and wizards oppressing your child. If there is inexplicable financial difficulty in your family or business, for the benefit of doubt, go into warfare prayers and release your finances from every satanic altar. If you notice that you are inexplicably depressed or sick, do the same. If you just begin to feel uncomfortable at the mention of fasting and prayers, bind the demons trying to separate you from the power of God.

Finally, if you have anyone around you that always talks against praying people or churches, the person is a suspect. Address him as an agent of the devil in your prayer until he proves otherwise.

You can download powerful prayer collections from our website. 

You can also buy some of my books;

 Confronting Witchcraft in the Neighborhood.

Origin of Complex Spiritual Problems. Prayers That Bring Results Vol. 1 and 2. 

We have a lot of spiritual resources that can help you develop your spiritual life on our website. 

You can also connect with me on WhatsApp +2348035724526

I will love to hear from you. 

Remain in the place of prayer 

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com 

DON'T DARE THE ANOINTING

 The Life and Ministry of Prophet Elisha 6

DON’T DARE THE ANOINTING

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. 2 Kings 2:23-24NIV

Elisha was returning from a place of supernatural encounter. It is possible that these young people knew Elisha before now but the person walking past today is not the person they used to mess around. He was carrying the anointing; he was carrying the spirit that was upon Elijah and they ought not to treat him the same way anymore. Perhaps he was your son or younger brother; you ought to recognize the change. If he is your husband, you need to understand that this man is the Lord’s anointed. Some theologians are still wondering if the punishment on these youths was not to the extreme but they died all the same. We have another record how some soldiers had addressed Elijah irreverently and he called down fire from heaven to destroy them.

At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, "Man of God, this is what the king says, 'Come down at once!'" "If I am a man of God," Elijah replied, "may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men. 2 Kings 1:11-12NIV

Another captain who had the same assignment, rank and authority had better manners than the first two and his life was spared.

So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. "Man of God," he begged, "please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!" 2 Kings 1:13-14NIV

You can debate all you want but those who died by the fire of judgment are gone and the best thing for us is to watch our behaviour when we are around or before anointed servants of God. 

For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? 2 Cor 2:15-16NIV

The same anointing that brings salvation, healing, deliverance and revelation can harm those who treat the anointed irreverently. It does not matter whether the anointed is poor or rich; the hand of God is upon him. It does not matter whether he is educated or ignorant, I advise you to be careful what you do with him. God did not consult you before He anointed him and it will be to your interest not to draw the anger of the Lord’s anointed. I warn my children never to lie to me while looking at my face. It does not matter if I am their father or not; I carry the anointing. Peter was so anointed that his shadow drove out demons and healed the sick, but some church folks felt they could still play around him.

Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?  Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Acts 5:3-5NIV

You may not like the way and manner Peter passed judgment on them but they were dead and buried. You may even argue that Peter was in the flesh when he passed the judgment, my advice is that you do not try what they did, or you may end up the same way. I am not saying this in defence of anointed servants of God but as a personal witness of how the anointing on a man can harm those who treat him with disrespect.

In my early days in the ministry, I organized a crusade in Avu Market Square. Avu is in Owerri West Local Government Area in Imo State, Nigeria; I think it was a four days crusade and it fell within the Christmas festive period. The young people in the community would not let me be. They kept disrupting my message with their fireworks, what we call “knock-Out”. They would throw it into the air and in the midst of people. They were disrupting my program. I did not like that and I believe God did not like it too. My plea with them to leave the venue of the crusade if they were not interested in the gospel fell on deaf ears. Then I said something like, “If the person throwing those things thinks that he is fearless let him try and throw that Knock-Out again”.

I heard some jeering sound that suggested that they meant that I couldn’t do anything. Afterward, there was a sharp scream and an accompanying reaction from the crowd, and everywhere became quiet. Since they were not close to me, I did not know what happened. I finished my crusade and went home. It was after a long time I learnt what actually caused the young men to leave the crusade venue. One of the young men still ventured to throw a “knock-out” into the air and in the view of those standing nearby, fire came down from heaven, following the direction of the “knock-out” and damaged his hand. He screamed home. Yes, you read me right; fire fell from heaven to punish the young man that was disrupting the crusade.

On my first assignment as an in-house evangelist, the president of the organization who was a medical doctor gave me an assignment. The organization had a hospital and a ministry centre. He told me to pray and loose an eighteen-seater bus in the ministry premises because he believed it was under witchcraft monitoring. He said that anytime they tried to put it out for business, it would breakdown and they ended up incurring more expenses to repair it.

After my personal prayer, the Lord told me that my president was not faithful to Him. He had asked God to give him a bus for the purpose of evangelism. When the vehicle came, he put it out as a commercial bus. The Lord sent another vehicle and he diverted it again as hospital ambulance. The Lord told me that, it was not witches that held the vehicle but He the giver had locked it up.

This response did not go down well with my president and one thing led to the other. I was young and crude with my approach to spiritual matters. I am sorry to say that, but I am among those that the anointing on them makes to appear arrogant. Once I am sure of my position with God, I cared little how others felt about my position. One day he told me that he will deal with me and I felt that was going too far. I immediately responded, “If you try it, my God will deal with you.”

He pointed to my face and said, “Look at the person calling God.”

I was mad. I said, “Did you point at my face and say that? How dare you?”

He was a witness when the dead came back to life when I prayed over them. He had profited from women whose womb the Lord unlocked when they could not deliver safely in his clinic. He was witness to the miracles that happened in his ministry through my ministration. How can he now say I was not qualified to mention God’s name. He could only say so if I betrayed a trust but I did not. I walked away. The next day, that ambulance had an accident and was damaged beyond repair and while he was talking about that, robbers went and stole his private vehicle that was parked in his garage. In the space of one week, my president saw his world going down. Someone heard him screaming, “Evangelist Emma Nwosu has finished me!”

If you are God’s anointed, do not let folks make you forget whom you are because of one circumstance or the other. I do not take that from anyone. They were calling Elisha bald-headed fellow; why must they? 

Under some unpleasant circumstances, my family was forced to move from where I lived at central Port Harcourt City that we call Main Town to an area called Rukpoku also within Port Harcourt metropolis. I had a church in both locations and had to preach first message at Rukpoku and then move over to the church in Town for the second message. They were about ten kilometres apart. It was not easy and I did not have a car and with very little available funds. The distance was such that I needed to take three to four different vehicles before I could walk to the location of our church in Town.

One of the Sundays, one of the taxis I took had a breakdown after I had paid him. He handed me over to another taxi since the distance was not much. When I alighted, the driver asked me for another payment and I tried to explain to him that I had paid the driver that handed me over to him. He insisted that I must at least give him extra money, to which I refused. This man took hold of my shirt in the view of many watchers. He grabbed me in the open there and time was running out on me. My church location was not far from that place and even my enemies bore witness to the great manifestation of the power of God in my ministry. I really pity preachers who are not carrying the anointing.

A man shouted at the driver, “Are you Ok? You are holding Pastor Emma’s cloth?” The man was adamant until someone gave him the money he requested. I hurried to my service. Three Sundays after a driver drove his car very fast, to where I was standing and asked me to enter. The same driver who molested me the other time. He was begging me to forgive him for the manner he behaved last time. He said he had suffered greatly since then and never made any extra money since then. He was out this Sunday morning pleading with God to make him to meet me. When he dropped me this time, he did not want money from me but just my prayers.

There could be some people reading this today who had corrupted their life because of the way they treated the Lord’s anointed. In some cases, the anointed could be wrong, just like Noah who got drunk and lay naked. You dare not treat him without respect. Learn a lesson from David,

Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives," he said, "the Lord himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. 1 Sam 26:9-11NIV

Avoid the temptation of mocking his weaknesses and daring to prove that he is not holy enough to serve God. This is the root cause of many troubles some are suffering from today. 

Having read thus far, if you think you once drew a curse into your life because of the way you treated a servant of God, I suggest you contact me for special prayers.

TO BE CONTINUED

Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com 

The Mantle and the Responsibility

 _The Life and Ministry of Prophet Elisha 4_ 

 *The Mantle and the Responsibility.* 

The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha." And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him 2 Kings 2:15NIV

The mantle of Elijah falling into the hands of Elisha implied the power and authority of Elijah passed over to Elisha. That was what the sons of the prophets recognized and went to pay respect to Elisha. At this point, it is necessary that we correct an interpretation to a scripture that has often been presented out of context.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied 2 Kings 2:9NIV

This discussion does not mean that Elisha wanted to be twice as anointed as Elijah was. Instead, it meant that he was asking for the right of the firstborn among the sons of the prophet that were under Elijah.

He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him. Deut 21:17NIV

In the other of precedence among the other sons of the prophet, Elisha was not the first, hence Elijah said that he asked for a difficult thing as that decision made publicly could stir problem among his disciples.

Having cleared that, it is important we understand that assuming the place of leadership ought not to be about the material gains and privileges attached to the high office. Christian leaders should be concerned instead about how they can effectively help their followers to achieve the divine purpose for the organization. Unfortunately, most of the conflicts we see in our midst are driven by selfishness and not because of the desire to serve God. Most church break-ups are as the result of people who want to hold to or draw followers after themselves. 

I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them Acts 20:29-30NIV

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Eph 4:14NIV

A lot of, so-called higher revelation teachings we hear today are driven by ungodly ambition of bible teachers to outdo other Christian leaders and that is why these teachings rather than build up the Body of Christ, are causing confusion among followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Believers often forget or neglect one of the reasons the Holy Spirit compiled the accounts of bible stories and characters for us,

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 1 Cor 10:11-12NIV

Some believers are surprised when we mention what we consider some errors in the life of men like Elijah, Elisha. Paul and Peter. That is why the bible is the word of God. God wants to present us with good examples to imitate and warn us of the consequences of following bad examples. Also we are offered encouragement through the accounts of the tenacity of some of the bible characters.

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Rom 15:4NIV

So, we are not having these meditations for the pleasure of it but we are yielding ourselves to the teachings of the Holy Spirit through the holy scriptures.

In our text scripture we find something that is vital in the matter of leadership succession in this holy faith; "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha." Once we observe this anywhere, our opinion ceases to matter. We must do what those sons of the prophet did; “they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him”

There are other sides to this; the leader, who is handing over his leadership mantle or office, should be careful that he does not yield to sentiments or be prejudiced by emotions and then hand over the mantle to a person upon whom his spirit has not rested. We have this kind of thing when Moses had to handover to Joshua as his successor. 

Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses. Deut 34:9NIV

We are not told but there could have been a temptation for Moses to follow the old pattern where he was the senior prophet, his brother Aaron was the chief priest and his sister was the prophetess. The children of Aaron succeeded him and the leadership mantle has always been within their family line, but now the Lord is asking him to transfer leadership to someone that was not even from his tribe. Many of the conflicts in our denominational circles has resulted because senior prophet Moses refused to do that. In some cases, as we have many in Nigeria, the leader died with instructions to transfer to Joshua, but members of his family gang together and subverted his instructions. We then have a man occupying an office for which the spirit that is behind that office does not support him.

Another temptation is for Elisha to think that since Elijah was the pioneer of the work, things must go on exactly as he found them. In some cases, the sons of the prophets or, as in Moses’ case, the elders of Israel would bound together to insist that the new leader must continue in the order that he met things. Moses was prophet but Joshua was a warrior; Paul was an Apostle but Timothy was a Pastor whom Paul asked to add evangelistic flavour to his ministry. There is no way things could continue to follow the same order with these new leaders. The Spirit was the same but the manner He used them would be different.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men 1 Cor 12:4-6NIV

When the aged high priest Zechariah eventually had a son, the people felt that he should be named after his father, “Zechariah Junior”, but that was not God’s plan. Every instrument of God is unique.

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John."  Luke 1:59-60NIV

It appears to me that Elisha did not understand this. He seemed to want to continue to do things the way Elijah did. A time came the sons of the prophet urged him that there is need for improvement.

The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live." And he said, "Go." Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?" "I will," Elisha replied. 2 Kings 6:1-3NIV

What Elisha must not lose or alter are the charismatic signs in the ministry of Elijah, because these are the proof of the Spirit of the God of Elijah. Elisha raised the dead as Elijah did; Elisha pathed the river like Elijah did; he multiplied food and prophesied to kings and kingdoms; but if this ministry will move forward, Elisha must bring another dimension of leadership. He must bring in new effective methods to make the school of prophets work better.

 Successors must not do everything like their predecessors; children must not continue the family business in the same order. Some Christian organizations refused to embrace technology because their founder did not use it. Some organizations refused to embrace some operations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit because their church founders did not experience it. These has resulted in stifling the influence of the Holy Spirit in some Christian circles. Once we are sure that it is the Spirit of the God of the leader that is resting on his successor, it will be his responsibility to chart new paths for them to attain greater heights. This should not be done by resorting to secular methods, but he must necessarily seek God afresh through prayers and meditation, to find out how He would lead him.

I will love to have reactions here!

TO BE CONTINUED

pnurnigeria@gmail.com 

Emma, your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com